Assessment of Day Caring Methods among Civil Servant Mothers of Reproductive Age in Lagos State Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the day caring methods among the civil servants of reproductive age with children betweenthree months to four years in Lagos State Nigeria. The research design employed for this study was a descriptiveresearch design. A total number of 212 teachers and 128 ministry workers making a total of 340 reproductive agemothers were purposively selected from the State. A self-structured questionnaire was used to collect informationfrom the respondents. Accidental sampling technique was adapted to survey the respondents for this study. Datawere analyzed using frequency distribution, simple percentages and inferential statistic of t-test analysis. The resultsof the study revealed that 30 (8.8%) teachers and 33 (9.7%) ministry workers agreed that they kept theirchild/children in crèche. The study showed that 188 (55.3%) teachers and 92 (27%) ministry workers agreed thatthey wanted to have time to care for themselves, while 204 (60%) teachers and 38 (11.2%) ministry workers agreedthat they liked to get back to their work and be efficient. It was also revealed that a reasonable proportion of theteachers agreed that there were adequate personnel and adequate rooms for learning, while the ministry workersdisagreed. The results further showed that many of the day care workers were not well educated. Based on thefindings, it is recommended that the civil servants should be educated on the need to adopt the modern and educativemethods of day care.